Dr. Sarah Taylor-Rogers, assistant director for the Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology, Inc. in Queenstown, Md., will be the keynote speaker at Thiel College’s annual academic honors convocation at 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 20 in the William A. Passavant Memorial Center.

Taylor-Rogers, a 1969 alumna of Thiel and currently a member of the college’s board of trustees, will address faculty, staff and the student honorees and their families.

Three hundred and twenty-seven students – including scholarship recipients, academic honorary members and dean’s list honorees – will be recognized for their academic achievements earned during the 2005-2006 academic year. Freshmen scholarship recipients also will be announced.

In March 2004, following stints as a research assistant and fellow, Sarah Taylor-Rogers was named the assistant director for the Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology, Inc., a non-profit organization affiliated with the University of Maryland. Her initial work with the center included the investigation of ways to strengthen donated easements for conservation purposes and also included research as to whether downzoning preserved agricultural and forest lands and retained the equity of the landowner.

Prior to her tenure with the center, Taylor-Rogers served as the secretary for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.   She has also served as the Department of Natural Resources’ Assistant Secretary for Resource Management.  Taylor-Rogers began working at the Department of Natural Resources in 1979 after five years of service with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where she was responsible for the Washington, D.C. water supply study.

She earned her Ph.D. from the Maxwell Graduate School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University.

She and her husband, John Whitson Rogers, reside in Baltimore.